News

2017

Cadets and midshipmen from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines donned their dress uniforms and mustered on the Francis Quadrangle the morning of May 5 to restart a military tradition at MU that dates to the 1860s. The Reserve Officer Training Corps Joint Services Pass in Review and Parade featured more than 250 graduates, six of whom received special honors.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The fight against skin cancer just got a new weapon. For years, melanoma researchers have studied samples that were considered uniform in size and color, making them easier to examine by more conventional means. But melanomas don’t always come in the same shape and hue; often, melanomas are irregular and dark, making them difficult to investigate.

Joan Coates and her research team are seeking clinical trial participants to evaluate a treatment for canine DM.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In 2009, Joan Coates, a veterinary neurologist, along with other researchers at the University of Missouri and the Broad Institute at MIT/Harvard, found a genetic link between degenerative myelopathy (DM) in dogs and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease in people. Now, researchers have found that a biomarker test that helps diagnose ALS also can assist with determining a diagnosis for degenerative myelopathy.

Pat Okker, interim dean of the College of Arts and Science, is co-chair of the newly created Strategic Enrollment Management Committee.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Today, University of Missouri Provost Garnett Stokes announced the creation of the Strategic Enrollment Management Committee that will advise MU officials on a comprehensive approach to enrollment planning. The committee is expected to shape Mizzou’s enrollment future at a critical time in institutional history and take a holistic approach to enrollment planning.

The 2017 Excellence in Education awards ceremony and reception will honor nominees and recipients of Excellence in Education Award, and the MU Faculty Achievement Award in Diversity.

James Birchler, Curators Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science, has been awarded the Southeastern Conference’s 2017 Professor of the Year. Credit: Rob Hill

James Birchler, Curators Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science, has been awarded the Southeastern Conference’s Professor of the Year Award for 2017. This award is given annually to one SEC faculty member whose record of teaching, research and scholarship distinguishes them in higher education.

MU-ARTSS interns pose during their poster presentations at MU’s summer undergraduate research conference. From left to right: Allie Choate (senior, University of Missouri), Chelsea Basley (Albany State University), Samuel Valle (junior, California State University-Long Beach), and Brittney Green (senior, Tuskegee University). Not pictured: Shanaliz Natta (junior, The University of the Virgin Islands-St. Thomas). (Photo source: Allie Choate and Brittney Green)

The Association for Psychological Science’s main general publication, the APS Observer, has written a nice article about an internship program in the Department of Psychological Sciences–the MU Alcohol Research Training Summer School. Check it out:

An annual political science conference featuring the latest research methods is being hosted by the University of Missouri this year. The St. Louis Area Methods Meeting (SLAMM) typically is hosted by Washington University in St.

University of Missouri System Interim Chief of Staff David Russell today awarded the third of ten UM System President’s Awards to be presented to faculty in 2017 to Justin Walensky, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Interim Chancellor Henry C. “Hank” Foley and Dongchu Sun, a professor and chair of the MU Department of Statistics, are two of seven alumni to be honored by the College of Science at Purdue University for their contributions to the scientific community. The two will receive their awards at a banquet on Friday, April 7.

Professor Jeff Milyo and Assistant Teaching Professor Myoung Lee, both from the Department of Economics, received the Purple Chalk Award for their excellence as instructors.

The College of Arts and Science Student Council honored two professors, a graduate instructor, and an adviser with Chalk Awards for the spring 2017 semester. The student council solicits nominations from students for their favorite instructors and advisers, and the council’s executive committee makes the final selections. The student council will host a luncheon for the award winners later this semester.

Purple Chalk Awards

Brooks Blevins (left), History Professor at Missouri State University and President of the Steering Committee for the event; James W. Endersby, co-author of Lloyd Gaines and the Fight to End Segregation; and Gary Kremer, Director of the State Historical Society of Missouri. The book won the 2017 Book Award at the Missouri Conference on History last week.

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Associate Professor James W. Endersby and Teaching Professor William T. Horner are the recipients of the Missouri Conference on History 2017 Book Award for their co-written book, Lloyd Gaines and the Fight to End Segregation (University of Missouri Press, 2016). Endersby accepted the award on March 24 at the awards luncheon held at the University Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Missouri.

College of Arts and Science Interim Dean Pat Okker talks about the need for a new School of Music building during the reveal of the design renderings at Whitmore Recital Hall March 21.

MU faculty, staff, and patrons of the arts got a first glimpse of the designs for the new School of Music building, to be located at the intersection of Hitt Street and University Avenue. The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved Phase One of the building project last December.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Interim Chancellor Hank Foley and Commerce Bank Chairman and CEO Teresa Maledy today awarded one of the 2017 William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence to Michael Podgursky, a professor of economics in the MU College of Arts and Science.

Vom Saal released Integrative Environmental Medicine, a comprehensive book outlining practical resources and tools, such as websites and smartphone apps, to help health care practitioners promote healthier choices for themselves and their patients.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – More than 87,000 chemicals are available commercially in the U.S., including analogues of bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial chemical that is used in consumer products. Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri endocrinologist and researcher, has studied BPA and other chemicals and their effects on humans and animals for more than 20 years.

Jake Haselswerdt, assistant professor of public affairs and political science, found that increases in Medicaid enrollment as a result of Medicaid expansion were related to considerably higher voter turnout in 2014.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since becoming law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been used by political parties in attempts to mobilize voters. In a new study, Jake Haselswerdt, assistant professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Missouri, found a correlation between voter turnout and Medicaid expansion, a key component of the ACA. He says that increases in Medicaid enrollment are related to considerably higher voter turnout in states that expanded Medicaid.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A relationship between epilepsy and heightened religious experiences has been recognized since at least the 19th century. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Missouri found a neurological relationship exists between religiosity— a disposition for spiritual experience and religious activity—and epilepsy. This finding sheds light on the connection between religion and neuropsychological processes within the human brain.

Julius Riles, an assistant professor of communication, says one of the things that attracted him to the University of Missouri was a proposed media diversity center. Prior to his hiring last fall, Riles had been in contact with MU Associate Professor Lissa Behm-Morawitz, and the pair discovered their research interests aligned closely.

Dennis Kelley, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, serves as the coordinator of the new minor in Native American Indigenous Studies.

Most Missourians probably are aware of their state’s Native American heritage, if for no other reason than the plethora of Native American place names such as Miami, Neosho, Osceola, and Tecumseh, to name just a few.

2017 is turning out to be a very good year for MU’s Department of Geological Sciences. The department is in the process of installing the first micro-CT scanner on campus, which will allow researchers across campus to analyze samples three-dimensionally without destroying them, as well as a highly customized scanning electron microscope.